alternate title of the game: kin seek therapy challenge (IMPOSSIBLE) (99.99% FAIL)
[i jest, i jest.]
SPOILERS BEWARE!!
i started playing the game blind and managed to get ending 1 without the knowledge of the stats so hooray to me
playing this game from kin's perspective puts a refreshing twist on TMD because i saw a lot of my middle-school self in kin... the delulu craving for romance, the vague feelings of self-loathing [before there was a word for those feelings] pushed at bay, etc etc.
it was like looking in a mirror and uncomfortably so; as someone who's BEEN a Kin, it's honestly refreshing to see a depiction of a mentally unwell adolescent that isn't just "i am depressed 24/7/365" and actually has depth. i love how unapologetically MESSY kin is. it just makes her more... real.
i... have one major doubt, though. and a minor one.
ONE- is it just kin's rose-tinted view of aoi that shapes him to be some kind of tragic heartthrob? because i could see aoi reasonably having some backstory, but if you've played the original TMD, we know he... isn't exactly innocent, or rootable for. Ueda Aoi is going in my shit list and he knows why.but yes, i do wonder if there's a depth to why he acts the way he does, and seeing how he acts after you tell kyouko and she goes to find him [being vague on purpose here] is honestly kinda funny because LMAO GET BEAT DOWN NEPO BABY
TWO- I love KiRa☆RiN but i honestly get a little confused as to their identity. i'm trans myself so seeing Kira was a major "HELL YEAH" moment, but i get a little confused, as they're clearly not a boy, yet use the title of 'prince'. just wanna know their identity so i can make them my whole personality for a month. shoutout to my favourite gender-ambiguous chuunibyou
overall, I really liked this game and i eagerly await any future releases from you, both in this series and in general. Keep it up!
PS: not sure if it's a bug but advancing dialogue by using the space bar makes the sprite + bg disappear for a split second which adds to the general unsettling aura of the game. peak fiction 10/10
Viewing post in To My Darling: Rewritten comments
Thank you for such a lengthy comment!! I always find them a joy to read and this is no exception :'D
I'm going to ramble a bit myself. Please forgive me if it's a lot 🙇♂️
I'm happy to hear that Kin resonated with you. It was a lot of fun to write from her perspective and exploring her character/mental health further throughout the various endings (even if she... does end up worse in most of them). She's meant to be a huge mess. She's meant to be a bit annoying and even unlikeable at times. But in the end, she is still just a kid who's struggling in ways she doesn't fully understand herself. Being 14 years old is kinda just... like that. Sometimes the littlest things feel like the end of the world, even when that might be far from the truth.
I could seriously go on and on about how I feel and what I wanted to convey when writing her... But I think leaving some things up to the audience's imagination is more fun than outright saying it ^-^
Kin is my little sunshine princess. I'm glad that other people like her just as I do, messiness and all ☀️
When it comes to Aoi, I sadly didn't have much time to get into his backstory outside the incident in their first year. I tried leaving breadcrumbs where I could — usually relating to his father and family in general. The extra stories + bonus room might also provide a bit more insight into his character. Again, leaving things up to audience interpretation is more fun in my eyes, so I'll refrain from saying more.
What I will say though is that I don't plan for this to be his (or anyone's) conclusion to their story... So hopefully there will be opportunities to learn more in the (probably distant) future. For now, feel free to bully the little nepo baby.
As for Kira's gender, their identity is also a little messy. They are transfem and go by they/she pronouns, (or in Japanese, 私 (わたし), which can be gender-neutral or feminine depending on context,) but in universe, they don't have an explicit label outside of “not a boy”. Language surrounding queer identities/issues is a little different in Japan, and Kira herself is still young, so they haven't found the words to properly describe their gender identity.
Kira calling herself a “prince” is meant to pay homage to all those princely women characters (bifauxnen) seen in anime/manga. But in this case, it also adds to that messiness that can be one's gender identity. Sometimes labels are conflicting or complicated, speaking as a trans person myself.
And like I said in Aoi's segment, I do have plans for future installments in this series. I'll most likely end up expanding Kira's gender identity/expression further when the time comes.
Apologies for such a long comment. I had to hold back from saying more lolol. But I appreciate your words very dearly. It truly does give me motivation to continue working :') When it comes to future projects, I'd let to get something out before 2026, so please look forward to it. (It's still in the very early stages of development though, so I can't offer much in terms of information at the moment... ;-;)
PS: I wasn't aware of that! I didn't usually playtest with keyboard, so I'll look into it. Thank you for alerting me! :D
And thank you from the bottom of my heart for playing “To My Darling: Rewritten”! 🫶